83 the Strategies of Coca-Cola's Expansion In
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Jurnal Studi Diplomasi dan Keamanan, Volume 12, No. 1, Januari 2020 THE STRATEGIES OF COCA-COLA’S EXPANSION IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA Nanda Pradhana Suprapto President University Jababeka Education Park, Jl. Ki Hajar Dewantara, Cikarang Utara, Jawa Barat 17550 - Indonesia Email : [email protected] Abstrak Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis strategi ekspansi perusahaan Coca-Cola di era globalisasi. Tulisan ini berfokus pada perusahaan Coca-Cola karena mereka telah terbukti berhasil sebagai salah satu merek yang paling dikenal di pasar global. Makalah ini mengidentifikasi strategi dari tiga CEO ketika pe- rusahaan tersebut berkembang secara global. Penelitian ini menggunakan studi literature untuk me- mahami strategi ekspansi yang diterapkan Coca Cola di era globalisasi. Strategi-strategi ini termasuk pen- guatan brand, distribusi jaringan, peningkatan sumber daya manusianya dan juga perhatian terhadap bu- daya lokal di setiap negara tempat Coca-Cola beroperasi. Strategi-strategi ini membantu perusahaan Co- ca-Cola menjadi sangat kompetitif di pasar global dan mengalahkan sebagian besar pesaingnya. Kata Kunci : Ekspansi Coca-Cola, Strategi, Globalisasi, Pasar Global. Abstract The purpose of this research was to analysis the strategies of Coca-Cola’s expansion in the globalization era. It focuses on the Coca-Cola Company because they have proven successful as one of the most rec- ognize brands in the global market. This research identified the strategies from three CEO when expand- ing globally. Literature study is applied to this research to gain an understanding the strategies of Coca Cola’s expansions in the globalization era. These strategies include brand strengthening, network distribu- tion, improving its human resources and also mindfulness of the local cultures in every country which Co- ca-Cola operates. These strategies helped Coca-Cola Company to become very competitive in the global market and beat down most of its competitors. Key Words: Coca-Cola’s Expansion, Strategies, Globalization, Global Market. 83 INTRODUCTION Globalization gives opportunities to the companies to do expansion in all countries. Petras and Veltmeyer (2001) stated that globalization is flow of goods, services, communication and information across national borders. Coca-Cola is the world’s best-known beverage company focus on expanding customer acceptance in worldwide. A company operating internationally faces two forces of pressure of local responsiveness and pressure of global integration. In 1987, Prahlad and Doz came with an Integra- tion/Responsive (IR) framework on internationalization, their IR framework created a big platform for the study on global business, which helps to form an international strategy that has multi dimensional contex- tual setting. IR framework has limitations for the global industrial competition specified only for the first stage, vagueness in the concept that defines the bond between industry forces and finally lack of proof for supporting the framework. Bartlett and Ghoshal (2008) further studied and came with some additions in IR framework and came up with 4 strategies that are international, global, transitional and multi- domestic approaches to the foreign market. The Global Strategy adopted by Coca-Cola can be critically analysed using the IR framework proposed by Bartlett, Ghoshal and Beamish (2008) and Hill (2009). The global standardization products and services focus on huge profit, but they compromise on their products price. The marketing research, production and research are done in precise regions with some certain standard and it is sold globally. So those type of products face a huge pressure in reducing the price according to the place where it is sold for example Intel, a chip company (Hill, 2009). According to Bartlett and Ghoshal (2002), a solution for the cross border business is Transnational, which is consid- ered as the important approach for the international market. The transnational strategy gives a lot of pressure to the company for cost reduction and local responsiveness. This could be achieved by transfer- ring the precise skills and expectations of the company from the home country to the needs of the for- eign country, where they compete with the local market with reduced price for example Caterpillar (Hill, 2009). Dr. John Stith Pemberton is responsible for the discovery of the drink that initially revolutionized the fountain drink industry and has continued its world-shattering hike for the past 126 years and has steadfastly transformed the modern day beverage market. Dr. Pemberton, on May 8, 1886, in Atlanta, Georgia, first introduced his product to Jacobs’ Pharmacy where it was sold for five cents a glass as a fountain drink. The Coca-Cola Company is now the world’s largest beverage company. They own or li- cense and market more than 500 nonalcoholic beverage brands, primarily sparkling beverages but also a variety of still beverages such as waters, enhanced waters, juices and juice drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, and energy and sports drinks. Coca-Cola Company own and market four of the world’s top five nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Finished beverage prod- ucts bearing the Coca-Cola trademarks are now sold in more than 200 countries. The Coca-Cola Company has been in existence for more than 100 years not because competition doesn’t exist, but because it has studiously evolved its business policies and strategies. 84 Jurnal Studi Diplomasi dan Keamanan, Volume 12, No. 1, Januari 2020 Table 1. The Coca-Cola Company Comparison Source: The Business and Management Review, 2012, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 166 Coke is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. The goal of the company's internation- al marketing team is to help expand global sales. The company sold its first Coke in 1886 at Jacobs' Phar- macy, but the company's mission hasn't changed; the goal is to sell the highest number of beverages to the most people. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the company focuses on making non-alcoholic beverages accessible. With hundreds of brands, some of the more popular examples are Diet Coke, Sprite, Dasani, Nestea, and Fanta. Worldwide, nearly 10,000 Coke beverages are consumed every second. The more Cokes the international marketing team sells, the more revenue the company makes. Much of the compa- ny's 40 Billion US Dollars in revenue growth now comes from globalization, not just growth within the borders of the United States. Globalization is the expansion and development of international markets outside of the company's home country. Let's look at how Coke has gradually globalized into the interna- tional market. This paper tries to explain about the strategies from three CEO of Coca-Cola Company when ex- panding globally. These strategies include brand strengthening, network distribution, improving its hu- man resources and also mindfulness of the local cultures in every country which Coca-Cola operates. This 85 paper firstly adapts the literature study to gain an understanding and to demonstrate knowledge of the existing research and debates relevant to a particular topic which is in this case the strategies of Coca Co- la’s expansions in the globalization era. DISCUSSION The Coca-Cola Strategy in Emphasizing the Global Standards Coca Cola was a huge success in the US and by the 1900s it had expanded into 8 other countries and counting. Today, it is enjoyed in over 200 countries worldwide. (Coca-Cola Company, Heritage Time- line, 2011). There are two strategies that they could have used to help them do this, Standardized and Localized strategies. Standardized strategy involves the product and the price being made at a set level across the whole organization across the world. This begins by ‘minimizing the differences in your prod- ucts, you are able to rapidly increase production, streamline distribution, decrease raw material costs and reinforce product branding.’ (Acevdeo, 2012). By making the product the same across all markets the cost can be decreased, with the economies of scale being put to use, (Buying in bulk will reduce the overall cost) and the same format being laid throughout the organization will help efficiency. The price for the product will also be at the same standard ‘fixed world price’ and applying it to all markets, taking into ac- count exchange rates and variations in laws and regulations. (Hollensen, 2004) This would work for Coca- Cola, as it would allow the product to be made efficiently with low cost, low risk and the product being the same everywhere. This provides an opportunity for a rapid introduction of any new products in inter- national markets. (Hollensen, 2004). Whereas, with a localized strategy it’s another matter; ‘Localizing a product or service is the pro- cess of adapting them to a particular language, culture, and desired local “look-and-feel.” (Rouse, 2005). For Coca Cola this will be done through a number of actions, first and foremost would be changing their method of advertising, as that is their most powerful tool. Advertisement would be changed to suit each individual culture, although it is kept near enough the same structure certain aspects would be changed, for instance in India the use of celebrities would be used more than in Africa whereby football is the big- ger love of the people. This would allow Coca Cola to maximize profits as it’s focusing on each market, however it cost time and may create more difficulties. According to the case study, Roberto